The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum for an exchange of ideas in the Division of Design and Manufacturing Systems. The conference ensures that the individual researchers are informed about the present ongoing activities of their colleagues. Thus, an elimination of duplication of their efforts may be achieved and a degree of cooperation may result. An overall improvement of efficiency of the Division would be expected. In addition, the conference program organization allows for ample time to discuss manufacturing research in detail with the collective research community at the meeting, with feedback and input from the National Science Foundation. Finally, personal contacts with the researchers in the Division should contribute to clarifying many current problems in their work. Principal Investigators attending the conference usually gain a one to two year lead on the information disseminated; this is the usual time frame for materials presented at the conference to be published in journals and other literature.
